Pronunciation: /ˈvɛl.ɪ.kər/ Part of speech: noun Definition: The strange wistfulness that washes over you inside a used bookstore, where thousands of old volumes seem frozen in their own eras, radiating the quiet weight of other people's lives. Etymology: <cite index="8-1">*Vellichor* is a neologism coined by John Koenig in his project *The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows*, blending the Latin *vellum* (the treated animal-skin parchment used for manuscripts) and *ichor*, the fluid said to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.</cite> <cite index="3-1">The construction mirrors *petrichor* (coined in 1964 from Greek *petros*, stone, plus *ichor*), with *vellum* substituted for the stone-prefix.</cite> <cite index="7-17">The word was picked up by social-media users in August 2013 and has been circulating ever since.</cite> You can read more about ichor and vellum at Wikipedia. Synonyms: nostalgia, wistfulness, melancholy, yearning, reverie, pensiveness In a sentence: She paused in the narrow aisle, breathing in the papery hush of the shop, completely overtaken by a deep vellichor she had no other word for.